144. Why Financial Literacy Isn’t Enough (And How Financial Coaching Creates Lasting Change)
episode
Becoming The Wealthy You | How to Save Money, Stop Overspending, Get Out of Debt, Budgeting & Personal Finance for Women
15 min
1 speaker
4 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You are listening to the Becoming the Wealthy You podcast with Jermaine Foley.
If you're a woman who makes good money in your career or business, but you're not building wealth like you want to, then you're in the right place. In this podcast, you'll learn how to stop overspending, break free from the cycle of debt, save lots of cash, and become the wealthy woman you were born to be. Let's dive in. Well, hello there, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we are going to talk about something that is super important because here's the truth. In this day and age, you can Google all the money advice in the world. But if you're like most people, you're still stressed about money. Why? Because information doesn't equal transformation. And And here's the proof. Financial stress is the number one source of stress in America.
It's above health, it's above work stress, and it's above family responsibilities. People are carrying this low level hum of money stress just in the back of their mind every single day. And this is the thing. It's not because we haven't read enough books or watched enough YouTube videos. We're more financially literate than ever before. Schools are mandating it. There are podcasts and TikTok videos about money everywhere. Yet 70% of Americans still live paycheck to paycheck. Not only that, but the total credit card debt has reached a new all-time high of $1.21 trillion. This was as of the second quarter of 2025. And this was according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And that represents a 5.87% increase over last year.
So with all this financial literacy that's out there, it's not enough. Now, I talked about how 70% of Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck. Let's define what that actually means, because for some of you, who are making good money in your business or your career, that may not resonate with you. I actually had a woman I was working with and she was like, Jermaine, yeah, I'm living paycheck to paycheck, but that phrase just doesn't resonate with me because I earn so well, right? I feel like I can just make more money and I'll be good. And we all know making more doesn't solve your money problems. That's another episode. So I want to just break down what... living paycheck to paycheck actually means and in a way that it can resonate with you.
So living paycheck to paycheck simply means you're spending everything you make, right? So you get paid and let's say you pay yourself every two weeks if you're a business owner or you get paid every two weeks if you have a job, right? You spend that amount of money pretty much down to zero. Maybe there's a little bit left. So you need that next paycheck to come in.
Why does financial literacy alone fail to reduce money stress?
There's not like this cushion of money available to you if you weren't going to get paid. Okay, so living paycheck to paycheck means that you're relying on the next paycheck to make ends meet. So if you don't have, you know, a great emergency fund, that is you. So you could be making multiple six figures and still be living check to check. And here's proof. I already told you that 70% of US households live check to check. But I'm gonna go deeper. About 44% of households that earn $100,000 or more are living check to check. And even among households making $250,000 or more, 25% of them are also spending it all. So if you ever thought I make too much money to be living this close to the edge, you're not alone.
It's happening at every income level and that's exactly why financial literacy alone isn't enough. Think about it. Most people already know the basics. We all know that carrying credit card debt costs you money and that you shouldn't carry your balance from month to month, right? If you're going to use a credit card, you all know, we all know that we should be paying it off and not carrying the balance from month to month. We all know that saving... on a consistent basis builds up our financial security. We all know that we should have six months of expenses, plus we should have savings for things like vacations, but are we doing it?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:23
2
Why does financial literacy alone fail to reduce money stress?
3:23–8:32
3
What evidence shows people are still living paycheck to paycheck despite more money education?
8:32–11:04
4
How is 'living paycheck to paycheck' defined for high earners?
11:04–15:02
Speakers
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